Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Dec 26, 2021; 9(36): 11369-11381
Published online Dec 26, 2021. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i36.11369
Difficulties in diagnosing anorectal melanoma: A case report and review of the literature
Raluca Cristina Apostu, Elena Stefanescu, Radu Razvan Scurtu, Gabriel Kacso, Radu Drasovean
Raluca Cristina Apostu, Radu Drasovean, Department of Surgery, "Iuliu Hatieganu" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca 400006, Romania
Elena Stefanescu, Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care, Emergency County Clinical Hospital, Cluj-Napoca 400006, Romania
Radu Razvan Scurtu, Department of Surgery, University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Iuliu Hatieganu" Cluj-Napoca, Cluj Napoca 400006, Romania
Gabriel Kacso, Department of Medical Oncology and Radiotherapy, “Iuliu Hatieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca 400006, Romania
Author contributions: All authors equally contributed to this work.
Informed consent statement: Informed written consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this case report in accordance with institutional guidelines.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Radu Razvan Scurtu, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Iuliu Hatieganu" Cluj-Napoca, 3-5 Clinicilor Street, Cluj-Napoca 400006, Romania. razvan.scurtu@umfcluj.ro
Received: May 26, 2021
Peer-review started: May 26, 2021
First decision: June 15, 2021
Revised: June 15, 2021
Accepted: July 2, 2021
Article in press: July 2, 2021
Published online: December 26, 2021
Processing time: 211 Days and 4.3 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Anorectal melanoma is a rare type of melanoma with the worst prognosis among mucous melanomas. The location and nonspecific symptoms of anorectal melanoma make it difficult to detect. Even histological examination can be misleading in the absence of obvious pigmentation and suspicion raised by the clinician to induce immunohistochemical examination. In this context, the diagnosis is late, in advanced stages, and the rarity of cases has not allowed the development of treatment guidelines.